Anna Calvi is an English musician who plays in the band of the same name. On 6 December 2010, Calvi was announced as a nominee for the BBC's Sound of 2011 poll. Her self-titled debut album was released in the UK on 17 January 2011,where it debuted at number 40 on 23 January. The album was subsequently nominated for the prestigious Mercury Music Prize in 2011.

Calvi has stated that the films of Gus Van Sant and Wong Kar-Wai and David Lynch have also influenced her music. She has admiration for "people that make beautiful films where the cinematography tells the story" and tries to do the same in her own work.

Calvi was invited to play at the Gucci dinner, hosted by Vogue during 2011 Paris Haute Couture Fashion Week. Since then Frida Giannini, creative director at Gucci has chosen outfits for Calvi to wear during the May 2011 US tour.

The fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld has said he is a fan of her music, and has photographed Calvi for the Maison Michel Fall Winter 2011 lookbook.

Sir Paul Smith photographed Calvi for the cover of L'Express Styles.
Calvi was invited on the Chanel table for the Amfar charity event at Cannes Film Festival 2011.

and brian eno has deemed her the best thing to come about since Patti Smith....which is a HUGE compliment not just the comparison but coming from the maestro.

i've definitely become a fan. i actually hadn't known of her till this year's mercury prize ceremony for which she was shortlisted but ultimately won by PJ Harvey. and our resident Chaky recommended her. it's very moody and rich....like edith piaf merged with roy orbison. she plays the guitar in an innovative way too....instead of the traditional strumming motion she plays in a circular motion which makes her guitar sound like one big orchestra pit.

btw if you haven't heard her cover of edith piaf's version of "Jezebel" she's just released a revamped version she did with rob ellis(nick cave & grinderman) in french. she also released a cover of tv on the radio's 'wolf like me' as well.....and it's stunning.

Agreed Scott, her covers are incredible! Also love her cover of Elvis Presley's Surrender.

I love how slightly dark all of her songs are, which comes across clearly in her covers -- you can definitely tell that the people she sites (from Nick Cave to David Lynch) are truly influential on her sound, and not just people she's ticking off to sound clever.

There's some interesting interviews with Anna out there where she discusses how she locked herself away to teach herself to sing, and why she dresses like a male flamenco dancer.

I like her TV On The Radio cover. The original is one of my favourites of theirs but I think Anna does a good job giving a very different take on it.

Here's another cover of a Leonard Cohen song done as an instrumental that shows off her sweep picking ability!

Quote:

My interpretation of this song is instrumental, as I found the lyrics to be so atmospheric I wanted to write my own piece of music which was inspired by the story that unfolds in each verse. Therefore there are four parts to the instrumental, as there are four verses. After each verse Cohen returns to the same refrain, which he sings a beautiful tune just with 'la's'. After each verse I also return to this melody. I just wanted to capture the story which is so beautifully told, with music. I hope you enjoy.

And I love this version of album closer Love Won't Be Leaving at the Luminaire Club in London:

shame PJ Harvey was wrongly ignored in the female solo category. that to me is an utter crime. one of the strongest albums by one of the most uniquely incomparable women in music....they pass on her for jessie j.? i am beginning to feel about the brits the way i feel about the grammy's.....it's mostly a popularity contest.....they don't ultimately recognize the genuine music. at least not anymore. i used to have a lot of respect for them but they've made some dodgy decisions lately.

I don't watch the Brit Awards any more. For me they've never really been about recognising the best music. It's a record industry thing so they are certainly biased towards artists with high sales figures. Their selections are mostly very mainstream and unimaginative with the odd good nomination - like Anna's - sneaking in.

The benefit of it is that the ceremony is on primetime TV so for someone like Anna Calvi it might help get some more people to check out her music.

I hope this finds you well, I'm deep into writing my second album; I've been writing in New York, and now I'm back in my attic in London. I'm really excited about how the new songs are sounding, I can't wait for you to hear them. I want to share all I've been listening to for inspiration but I also want it to be a surprise! One album I've been playing a lot which is very close to my heart is The Invisible's new album 'Rispah'. You may be familiar with the singer, Dave Okumu, as he provided backing vocals on 'No More Words'..Rispah is a beautiful album. I've also been listening to a lot of Steve Reich, Rachmaninov and Grace Jones..!

Myself, Dan and Mally are really looking forward to playing some festivals this summer, especially Somerset House on July 12th in London, this will be a very special show, I hope to see some of you there.

Its out! Anna Calvi featuring on the summer cover of Playing Fashion. Anna was great to shoot, we were treated to some fantastic acoustic versions of her songs, the icing on the cake to a perfect shoot!